Carbon to liquids system and method of operation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9359558-B2
Application number	US-201213689235-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 29, 2012
Priority date	Nov 29, 2012
Publication date	Jun 7, 2016
Grant date	Jun 7, 2016

Abstract

A method of operating a carbon to liquids system is provided. The method includes receiving a flow of syngas and reacting, in a reactor, the syngas and a catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch reaction to produce a product including steam, wherein the reactor includes a polymeric material that is configured to permit the permeation of the steam therethrough. The method also includes recycling the permeated steam to a vessel positioned upstream from the reactor.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a carbon to liquids system comprising:
receiving a flow of a syngas into a reactor, wherein the reactor includes a polymeric material that permits permeation of steam through the material;
channeling a cooling fluid flow through the reactor past an outer surface of the material;
reacting the syngas in the presence of a catalyst in a Fischer-Tropsch reaction to produce a product and steam at or near an inner surface of the material, wherein the steam permeates through the material and forms a mixture of the cooling fluid and the steam in the reactor; and
thereafter recycling the mixture of the steam and the cooling fluid to a vessel positioned upstream from the reactor.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1 further comprising shifting the syngas to facilitate increasing a hydrogen to carbon monoxide ratio of the syngas, wherein the shifted syngas is reacted in the reactor.

3. The method in accordance with claim 1 , wherein the cooling fluid at least partially comprises natural gas.

4. The method in accordance with claim 3 , wherein recycling further comprises recycling the mixture of steam and cooling fluid to at least one of a steam methane reformer and a catalytic partial oxidation reactor wherein the mixture reduces the energy requirements of the reformer and/or reactor.

5. The method in accordance with claim 4 , wherein recycling further comprises recycling the mixture of steam and cooling fluid to at least one of a boiler and a heat exchanger before recycling the mixture of steam and cooling fluid to the steam methane reformer wherein the mixture reduces the energy requirements of the boiler and/or exchanger.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5 , wherein the recycling of the mixture of steam and cooling fluid to at least one of a boiler and a heat exchanger further comprises channeling the steam and cooling fluid directly to at least one of the boiler and the heat exchanger.

7. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein recycling the mixture of steam and cooling fluid facilitates increasing conversion of the syngas during the Fischer-Tropsch reaction to greater than about 45%.

8. The method in accordance with claim 1 wherein the cooling fluid functions to maintain the temperature of the Fischer-Tropsch reaction at a predetermined temperature.

Assignees

• Gen Electric

Inventors

• Lissianski Vitali Victor
• Singh Surinder Prabhjot
• Bhandari Dhaval Ajit

Classifications

• C01B2203/062

  Hydrocarbon production, e.g. Fischer-Tropsch process · CPC title

• C01B2203/0261

  containing a catalytic partial oxidation step [CPO] · CPC title

• C01B2203/0205

  containing a reforming step · CPC title

• C01B3/386

  Catalytic partial combustion · CPC title

• C01B3/34

  by reaction of hydrocarbons with gasifying agents · CPC title